SEATTLE, March 11, 2011 – Austin, prepare for a technological knockout! Ascentium, The Experience Agency™, is bringing the Clash of the Kinectobots to the 2011 SXSW Trade Show, March 14 – 17 at the Austin Convention Center.

Attendees are challenged to choose their robot and battle for digital dominance at the Ascentium booths 910 and 912 from 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Ascentium’s Kinectobots adapt Kinect technology to allow contenders to use their bodies as the controllers and drive the action of the classic Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em toy robots. The robots are assembled by Ascentium developers and mounted on a mobile platform with wheels so that players can duke it out in real life with more mobility.

Participants can face off against friends, view others engaged in battle and score some Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em stickers and mini thumb robots. Everyone can also follow the fight results at @Kinectobots on Twitter.

“Since the Kinect hit the streets, people have put together some pretty amazing hacks.” said Steve Farrell, Executive Creative Director at Ascentium. “There are “Minority Report” interfaces, graphic manipulation tools and motion capture animation programs. But nobody’s built fighting robots, which to us seemed like a no-brainer. Our Kinectobots are an unholy marriage of childhood nostalgia and today’s latest technology: a Frankenstein combining the classic Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots and two Arduino-powered tank chassis. It’s the kind of thing our teams like doing for fun; taking technology and creative possibility and making abrand new experience. They just happen to be doing it at work.”

Ascentium’s technologists are also improving the experience of attending sessions at SXSW Interactive with Hit It or Quit It. The free mobile web application provides the real scoop at SXSW by letting attendees give the sessions they’re attending or looking forward to attending the thumbs-up or thumbs-down rating. If the session they’re currently in is a dud, they can find another that’s brimming with approval. The app leverages Foursquare technology and is built for iPhone and Android.

In addition, Ascentium is a platinum sponsor of Tech Cocktail’s SXSW Accelerator Kickoff, showcasing the latest innovations of 30+ early stage startups. The party takes place Sunday, March 13 from 8 – 11 p.m. at Republic Live, 301 West 5th St, Austin, Texas.

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ABOUT ASCENTIUM
Ascentium is a leading independent digital agency with unmatched fluency in both experience design and technology architecture and integration. Our belief in the marriage of creative and technology, designing and building, dreaming and executing defines everything we do.

We believe that, increasingly, brands are recognized by what they do when people interact with them, and not just by what they say. That’s why we design and build smart, sophisticated, and relatable experiences that live and function across the ever-expanding digital ecosystem—from deep behind a corporate firewall to the palm of a person’s hand and everywhere in between. We create transformative results for some of the world’s top brands from our offices in Seattle, Atlanta, Portland, Spokane, Los Angeles and London. Learn more at www.ascentium.com.